BUG REPORTING ON FORUMS - Meet ZamboniChaos!

There are several methods to report bugs, and some are better than others. I use ALL of them when I encounter a bug in other people's games!

CS tickets - the information is forwarded to QA and Dev. They do not respond to the player because they do not have the time.

In-game bug reports - these go to QA. They compile and file these when there is enough information to use. Unfortunately, all too often the bug report consists of one line, like "Quest is broken - FIX IT!"
There is no mechanism for a two way conversation, so QA relies on detail and multiple people reporting the issues.

Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, livestreams, videos. They can all work, but they are often difficult to track and the conversations disappear quickly, so they are the least useful method.

Forum posts - here is where we can do better for everyone, and we intend to:

As of today, we have a terrific guy named ZamboniChaos working in Community, prowling all Trion forums for bug reports. Here's what he will be doing:

recording all bugs that are reported in sufficient detail. More on this later.

respond to the thread so that people know it has been noted.

forward the list to Dev and QA daily.

when requested, he will go back to the thread to request more detail.

he cannot guarantee the prioritization or ETA on any issue. Not unless he learns to code for all our games, hehe.

Here is what happens when we get useful bug reports:

Once bugs are filed in JIRAs (our internal workflow system), they are prioritized by Dev in conjunction with their workload and deadlines.

These lists are constantly moving, which is why we do not post a public-facing bug tracker.

Game-breaking bugs take precedence, along with anything that affects people's character integrity or expenditures.

There are some bugs that may indeed take a very long time to fix, if they are not as important as other tasks.

With the help of ZamboniChaos, we will have less chance of losing track of issues on the forums, and I am very happy about that.

How everyone can help:

make sure you collect up as much detail as you can about the bug you experienced. What day, what time (and zone), what server, what character, level, action, game zone, does it happen every time or only occasionally or only when you take a certain action? It is amazing how very important some tiny details may be in solving a bug.

please keep the forum guidelines in mind when posting to the forums. We do not want to action an otherwise useful post because of an ill-advised comment, but we will.

be patient. Devs work hard to improve the game but there are challenges of time and engineering that may delay your bug from being solved. We tend not to give ETAs for the simple reason that they may change unexpectedly.

accept that this is not you "doing our job." If we had been able to fix the bug (or even identify it) previously, we would have. In most cases, we need external feedback to help nail the little boogers. If you don't want to help, that's cool. We are grateful to those who do.

This is very encouraging

Over the years my cynicism has been fueled in large by the number of bugs I've reported that have appeared to have been ignored.
This forum contains posts from many about bugs that have existed almost since day one.
Add to that the bugs that creep into the game as a result of "alterations" made by dev.

Over the last half of the years I've played the situation has been:

In game bug reporting, due to the lack of feedback, appears futile.
Reports via CS result in occasional bandaid fixes but more often automated dismissals.
Forum reporting is risky at best and more often results ONLY in a barrage of subjective opinions from other players, accompanied by the condescending rebuttals of fanboy trolls.

If this is a genuine intention to change then I'd like to suggest that SOME feedback is given to the person (player) who has made the effort to report the bug.

As I have often suggested in posts that still exist and those that have been moderated out, the search for competency is NOT a demand for perfection.

I understand that what is "game breaking" to some can be just a minor annoyance to others.

I so miss the days where a bug report would result in a Trion rep private messaging me in game about a resolution, explanation or at the very least acknowledgement.

Hey everyone! Some of you might be familiar with me already, but I'm glad to be taking a more active approach to hunting down bugs.

Adding on to what Brasse said, something you can do that will help me a ton is to create an individual thread for each bug you report. This will enable me to focus on gathering a substantial amount of info for each issue and help me engage with you regarding one specific bug.

Originally Posted by forbiddenlake

Is any particular forum better than another?

Generally, I would prefer bugs to be posted in the Tech Support forums, but if they're posted in other areas it's not a huge deal. Just remember to follow the awesome guidelines provided by Brasse above so I can effectively communicate the issue to the team.

Thanks again to all the players who take the time to investigate and report bugs! Your dedication does not go unnoticed.

Would it be possible to create a forum subsection just for bug reports and feedback releated to them? This way things would be more in one place and wouldn't be pushed aside by other threads that are made. It would also help with locating them way easier for you and us.